Passengers using elevators can generally give calls to elevators either in an elevator car, on a floor station site or in an elevator lobby. Elevator stations are typically provided with up/down pushbuttons, by means of which a passenger can order an elevator to the call floor and simultaneously indicate his/her travel direction. After the elevator has arrived at the call-giving floor, the passenger moves into the elevator car and indicates his/her destination floor with the pushbuttons of the car panel in the elevator car. A destination call-giving device can be provided with a numeric keypad and a display means, too. Taking reference to visually disabled or handicapped people it is known to implement a destination floor registration device for offering arbitrary floor information and destination floor information in Braille or the like by using a Braille display. The device includes an operating panel having touch-panel operation buttons, a panel display constituted by a touch panel of the operating panel, and a sheet-shaped Braille display that is provided integrally with or separately from the display cover and arbitrarily enables Braille notation. It is configured so that when the Braille display or the display cover near the Braille display is depressed by pressing the Braille display or the display cover, the touch panel is operated.
Also, conventionally, as a destination floor registration device of an elevator for allowing a visually disabled person which has difficulties to understand Braille characters to operate buttons on an operating panel (destination floor registration device) of an elevator without anxiety, there is known a destination floor registration device in which sign parts expressing the indication contents of operation buttons in Braille are provided for the operation buttons on the operating panel of the elevator, and the indication contents of a touched sign part are told by means of voice by using a loudspeaker.
In case a touch screen is used as the operation panel, the signalization of it has been considered as a weak solution for the blind and visually impaired users and therefore an additional solution like one of the above prior art devices are preferred. This fact has limited the growth of the touch technology use in elevator signalization use even though it has a great business potential and benefits to the big majority of the users and clients. A disadvantage of these car operating panels consisting in a touch screen is however, that they do not conform to the standards concerning handicapped people, in particular those prescribed for elevator installations. If a handicapped or blind person touches the elevator touch screen, an elevator call is maybe placed without the will of that person and without the perception of that person that an elevator call has been actually placed. According to the standards EN 81-70 and ISO/DIS 4190-5, there are requirements to be fulfilled as for example an operating and registration feedback and floor numbers in relief to be able be recognized by a visually handicapped user. It is desirable therefore to develop a command panel being conform to the standards concerning handicapped people and which is practical, inexpensive and fast.